WhatsApp chats no proof to show accused supplied drugs to Aryan Khan, court says

Mumbai: A special court here while granting bail to Aachit Kumar last week in the drugs-on-cruise case said merely on the basis of WhatsApp chats, it cannot be gathered that he had supplied drugs to co-accused Aryan Khan, the son of Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, and Arbaaz Merchant. The court in its detailed order, a copy of which was made available on Sunday, also raised questions on the veracity of the Narcotics Control Bureau’s (NCB) panchnama records said they were fabricated and seemed suspicious. Special Judge V V Patil, designated to hear cases related to the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, granted bail to 22-year-old Kumar on Saturday. The court in its detailed order observed that except for the WhatsApp chats with Aryan Khan, there is no evidence to show Kumar was indulging in such activities. “Merely on the basis of WhatsApp chats, it cannot be gathered that the applicant (Kumar) used to supply contraband to accused No 1 and 2 (Aryan Khan and Arbaaz Merchant), especially when the accused No 1, with whom there are WhatsApp chats, has been granted bail by the High Court,” the order said. Aryan Khan and Merchant, who were arrested in…
Read More